Improvement in fire-places



D. cunLE;

Fire-Places.

Patented May 5,1874.

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loo o aoooocnoooooo canna-Q non ooaaoanon UNITED STATES PATENT 0Frrcl DUDLEY W'ASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

-liVlPROV'EME-NT IN FIRE-PLACES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 150,403, dated May 5, 1374; application led September 25, L 573.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, DUDLEY UURLE, of the city of Washington and District of Columbia, have invented certain Improvementsfor Warming Rooms, of which the following is a specilication:

My invention consists, first, in an absorbing and radiating plate of peculiar construction, locatedabove a lire-place, constituting the surface of a stove, or any desired portion thereof, to absorb and radiate into the room as large a proportion as possible of the caloric which usually passes 0E with the gaseous products of combustion; second, in connecting said absorbing and radiating plate with the fire-place grate, for the purpose of conducting off and radiating into the room a portion of the heat there generated, and thereby relieving the grate in some degree from excessive heat, and at the same time aiding to warm the room; third, in the combination of said absorbing and radiating plate with an improved re-place and ue, as hereinafter described; fourth, in a tripartite mantel, as hereinafter described, in combination with said absorbing and radiating plate.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a lire-place containing my invention; and Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the same, showing a section of the Hue; and Fig. 3 is an edge sectional view on an enlarged scale of the absorbing and radiating platethe protuberances ou one side being shown at a a, and the indentations on the reverse side at z' i.

A is the fire-place, B the iiue, b the throat of the flue, C the absorbing and radiating plate, and E the tripartite mantel, and G the iire place grate. The absorbing and radiating plate is made of stout sheet or thin plate or cast metal, (copper by preference,) and both sides are made rough by numerous indentations on one side and corresponding pointed projections on the reverse side. These indentations and points should be quite small, and as near together as practicable, and .the plate should be black or of some dark color.

When applied to a fire-place, lthe arch-bar should be placed as high np as the top of the mantel,l and the absorbing and radiating plate is placed across the opening below said archl bar, extending down to the point usually occupied by it, thus forming the top of the ireplace opening and the front wall of the throat of the nue. I prefer to make this plate with two legs, c c, of the same material, and roughened in the same manner, extending down on each side of the nre-place to the grate, and connected therewith. The back of the replace, from a point a little above the grate, should incline forward, so as to form an obtuse angle of one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and forty-five degrees, or thereabout, and the side jambs should be made aring from back to front by a similar angle, so that the rays of heat reflected from said back and sides will, by a well-known law of refiection, be thrown into the room. An angle of one hundred and thirty-live degrees will effect this object most perfectly, but a somewhat more obtuse angle may be desirable for other reasons, and may be adopted without serious detriment. The back continues up on this incline to a point a little above the lower edge of said radiatingplate C and until it comes within, say, about an inch and a half of said plate, or, at all events, as near it as practicable without impairing the draft. Thence it rises vertically, parallel to the radiating-plate, a short distance, leaving a narrow or thin space, b, between it and the plate, constituting the throat of the ue. It then recedes back by an angle similar to that below till it reaches a point ver tically above the base of the nre-place back, and thence rises vertically to the top of the building, forming a large rectangular flue of uniform size and shape. At the lower edge of the radiating-plate the space between it and the inclined back wall should be two or three inches, on a horizontalv line. The throat of the flue should be the full width of the lireplace, but as thin or shallow as practicable, consistently with a good draft, so as to bring all the ascending heat as near aspossible to the absorbing and radiating plate, it being a well-known law that the power or capacity of any body to absorb heat is in the inverse ratio of Vthe square of the distances from the source. Hence the plate G will absorb four times as much heat at the distance of one inch from the ascending current as at the distance of two inches, and nine times as much as at the distance of three inches, and soon.. By 'extending the legs c c of said absorbing and ra diating plate down on each side of the lireplace, and connecting them with the grate, they will absorb some portion of the heat generated there and radiate the same into the room, and at the same time relieve the grate iu some degree of excessive heat, which tends to burn it out. I prefer sometimes to use in connection with said absorbing and radiating plate, a tripartite mantel, the central portion of which is made of metal, and comes in contact -with said absorbing and radiating plate, while the end portions are of wood, marble, or some other material which does not readily absorb heat, and does not come in contactwith said plate. These end portions may bc slightly separated from the central portion, or some nolrconducting substance may be interposed between them. In cold weather, when a brisk re is kept up in the grate, the central part of the mantel may thus be kept so hot that dishes of food set thereon will be kept at a suitable temperature for the table, while the end portions will remain comparatively cool.

I am aware that surfaces with numerous projecting points have been used for radiating heat imparted by hot water and steam, and I do not claim my absorbing and radiating plate in any such connection or combination; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

. 1. In combination with a. irezplace, stove, or furnace, an absorbing and radiating plate, roughened by indentations and pointed projections, as described, for absorbing and radiating into a room the rays of heat emanating directly from combustion, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with anabsorbing and radiating plate, roughened by indentations and pointed projections and placed above a re-place, as described, legs of the same material and construction, extending down to the grate and connecting therewith, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. Said absorbing and radiating plate, roughened by indentations and pointed projections, as described, in combination with the peculiarlyconstructed chimney-throat, herein described, arranged therewith, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with said roughened absorbing and radiating plate, located above a lire-place and in front of the throat of the flue, as described, a tripartite mantel, the central part being made of metal and the end portions of wood or marble, or some other material which does not as readily absorb heat, substantially as described.

DUDLEY CURLE.'

Vitnesses:

Jos. L. UooMBs, T. M. CooMBs. 

